Breña Alta

In the east of La Palma, Holy Cross Day (fiesta de la Cruz) is the biggest festival in spring. They only celebrate it in Santa Cruz, Breña Alta and Breña Baja, and as the name suggests, they decorate the roadside crosses – beautifully. As often happens, the main party is the night before the public holiday. Since most crosses are hung with gold jewelry (among other things) people stay beside…

The Cistercian convent of the Holy Trinity at Buenavista in Breña Alta is surprisingly new. It was founded in 1946, and it’s the only closed order on the island. I was surprised to find out that there are only ten nuns who live there. The convent has a small shop. I first went there about ten years ago, in search of a rosary made of dragon-tree seeds, for a Catholic…

La Palma has a new weekly market, this time at the popular tourist resort of Los Cancajos. It’s open on Saturdays from 9 am to 2 pm, at the south end of the sea front, near the Las Olas hotel. There’s another fairly new market that takes place on Fridays from 4-9 pm at Finca La Principal, just off the old airport in Breña Alta. And of course, Santa Cruz…

Well I wellied. I thought Tazacorte would have its procession of Fufo horses tonight, but it was last night. Sorry. Tonight they have a special mass at 7:30 pm, followed by a procession and fireworks. On Friday there’s a concert in Casa Massieu (an old manor house) at 9:30 pm, and on Saturday the pop group “Pereza” will give a concert in the sports centre at 10 pm. San Miguel…

La Palma has a network of marked hiking trails. The LP 19, in Breña Alta runs up from San Pedro, past a series of springs, into the lower end of San Isidro, and back down to the main road. Like most of these paths, the scenery is beautiful and keeps changing. And this path included bonuses. Several of the springs feed laundry bowls. Since it’s easier to carry clothes than…